Pune Projects Thread

[p.raghavendra6]

Rally against bad roads
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: To protest against the poor condition of city roads, the Arogya Sena, a voluntary organisation, will hold a public rally opposite Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) main gate on August 19.
Abhijit Vaidya, president of the organisation, said the rally will be held to express citizens’ anger. “The most disappointing thing is that though people are losing their lives corporators and civic administration are insensitive towards the whole issue.”
The rally was a method to send a message to the authorities that citizens could come on to the roads if their lives were in danger, Vaidya said.

[grimmm]

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_f...tent_id=137087

Pune’s tryst with successful contemporary automotive products started with the 1998 launch of Indica by Tata Motors. It continued with Bajaj Auto’s Pulsar, Mercedes from Daimler Chrysler India to forgings from Bharat Forge. And, today, the most audacious attempt ever made in Indian automotive industry — Ratan Tata’s one lakh car — is taking shape at Tata Motors engineering research centre in Pune.

But this is just scratching the surface. According to B N Kalyani, chairman, Bharat Forge, Pune has potential to attract investment flows of $10 billion and morph into a global automotive hub. By 2015, an auto component exports opportunity of $8 billion will be available to the Pune industry creating a million jobs in the Pune region. “The present size of India’s automotive component industry is about $10 billion. It would be safe to assure that Pune-based industry’s share is in the region of $2.5 to $3 billion. The component industry’s exports amount to $2 billion, out of which Pune industries contribute about $600 million,” says Kalyani.

Pune’s engineering strength, its proximity to the Mumbai port and booming export-oriented businesses have it buzzing with activity. (See graphic.) The frenetic pace of activities in the auto sector has attracted venture capitalists (VCs) into Pune as well. International Finance Corporation has invested $7.7 million in RSB Transmissions. Temasek-owned India China Pre IPO Equity (Mauritius) Ltd is investing $3 million in Uma Precision, a transmission parts maker. Other deals are in the works.

Apart from the VCs, global sourcing executives of leading auto companies too can be seen in the city scouting for suppliers. “International Purchasing Offices are coming to Pune. Both Cummins and DaimlerChrysler are here. Other international players are initiating enquiries and some of them have even struck deals with our members. Of the 500 ACMA members, 160 come from western region,” says Ramchandra Rao, chairman, western region, Auto Component Manufacturers’ Association. Deutz AG, Uzel, DaimlerChrysler, Same Deutz, Cummins Inc.,Lambhorgini and GM are among those looking for suppliers. Deutz AG’s sourcing alone would be worth €1 billion by 2008, say sources, adding DaimlerChrysler is sourcing parts from India and has an independent team on the job.

[WillyWick]

More Pune companies join MNC club

If the software entrepreneurs are the poster boys of Indian exports, the steady growth in the manufacturing sector in the past couple of years has encouraged quite a few players from the sector to look for greener pastures overseas.

Importantly, these players are looking beyond the presence in foreign countries in the form of a marketing company or a representative office, to actually establish their own manufacturing facilities or take over existing ones.

Leading the pack is the world’s second largest forgings manufacturer Bharat Forge Limited. The company has, over the past couple of years, acquired businesses overseas to create a chain of companies in three continents; Europe, America and Asia.

The company has established it presence in China in the form of a joint venture the country’s largest automotive group FAW Corporation where it holds a majority 52 per cent stake.

“One feels proud to see the Indian tricolour in a country like Germany or U.K.,” says Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani. And the numbers his company has turned out bear this pride out. The consolidated revenues of the company in the financial year 2005-06 comprised Indian revenues of Rs 2,109 crore whereas the revenues outside the country amounted to Rs 3,085 crore, nearly 50 per cent more than the home revenues.

Kalyani is itching for more, yet would like to play the waiting game as he feels the major restructuring of the automotives sector in the United States will throw up interesting opportunities for acquisition. “The automakers in the US have shown some signs of a change in their vendor development approach and we, with our size, stand a good chance to work with them,” Kalyani points out.

He adds that the company will soon shift one of its Germany-based plants to the US. Among the positive fallout of the strategy is the advancement of Kalyani’s target of becoming the number one forgings company in the world.

Also on the MNC trail is two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto Limited which has recently set up a joint venture in Indonesia to make two and three wheelers.

In fact Pte Bajaj Auto Indonesia, where Bajaj Auto holds 95 per cent equity stake(the rest is with a management consultancy organisation), has already started importing CNG three wheelers.

According to Bajaj Auto executive director Sanjeev Bajaj, the company will soon set up an assembly unit in Indonesia and import complete knocked down kits of three wheelers from the Indian parent and eventually start manufacturing the units, barring some critical components. Nigeria and Columbia are on Bajaj’s cards too.

Energy and environment engineering firm Thermax Limited already has quite a few subsidiaries overseas, but is seriously considering to expand its presence in the Europe and West Asia markets. Chairpereson Meher Pudumjee recently told the company’s shareholders in the annual general meeting that Thermax is now prepared to explore the opportunities in the hitherto uncharted areas.

“We will expand the offices in the Middle East to have a fuillfledged sales and marketing team there,” she had said. The company is also eying the OEM market in the Unites States and plans acquiring an existing brand to make an entry there.

Another player on the acquisition bandwagon is ethanol technology major Praj Industries. After vindicating its technological capability through a Rs 2 crore order from a US ethanol maker to supply technology as well as plant, the company is training its guns on a ‘suitable’ unit to acquire in the US market.

Of course Praj too has set up companies abroad but the breakthrough in the US markets is what has sent chairman Pramod Chaudhari on a high.

“The US is a major ethanol opportunity and having a foothold there will spell huge possibilities for Praj,” says Chaudhari, who is waiting with a Rs 170 crore kitty thanks to investments coming from venture capitalist and ethenol evangellist Vinod Khosala and Japan’s Marubeni Corporation.

MNC dreams is, however, not the prerogative of the big alone, as the city-based Uma Precision Limited too is looking at acquiring businesses in the US.

Rajendra Kankaria, managing director of the Rs 90 crore auto components company, says, “We have established ourselves as manufacturers of world class components and would be keen on picking up businesses in America which we can turn around, while benefiting from the advanced technology they have.”

And if global funding organisations like the International Finance Corporation has invested in Bharat Forge or Bajaj Auto, Uma Precision has garnered equity funding from India China Pre-IPO Equity (Mauritius) Limited and H&M Global Selection Pte Ltd, an investment arm of the Kurahara business family in Japan.

With the strength of Pune as a manufacturing hub fast regains its recognition, the city based businesses seem to be responding to the call and striving to keep the country’s flag flying high in the countries of the world.

http://www.business-standard.com/com...o=101539&tab=r

[cncity]

RAILTEL z Railways’ innovative plan to commercially utilise idle facilities comes to the city

Soniya Tripathi

Pune, August 14: COUNTLESS cups of coffee and pacing the platform are passe. As the city’s roads and traffic make it necessary to leave a considerable time-gap to board a train or receive someone, passing time on the station is only going to get easier.

Aimed at increasing passenger satisfaction, the Ministry of Railways has introduced yet another amenity at Pune Railway Station—a swanky new Railtel Cyber Cafe.


Situated on Platform 1, the cyber cafe‚ has 14 computers and is currently being run as a pilot project. ‘‘The cafe‚ was opened on July 31 on an experimental basis and is functional from 8 am to 10 pm,’’ said cafe‚ incharge Amar Nath. After garnering the response, the 1 giga byte-per-second broadband Internet facility will be operational round-the-clock, said railway officials.

Established in September 2000, Railtel Corporation of India Limited—a public sector undertaking, it is a 100 per cent subsidiary under the Ministry of Railways—was set up to commercially utilise the Railways’ communication assets that were lying idle.

Central Railways (Pune division) Public Relations Officer Y K Singh said, ‘‘The cyber cafe is a part of the drive to provide passenger-friendly amenities for rail-users and outsiders.’’

‘‘The land for the cafe was provided by the Railways in February. Internet facilities will be provided at a cheap rate on coupon-basis, and will cost Rs 12 for 30 minutes and Rs 23 for an hour. The coupons, if unused, can be utilised at any other station,’’ he added.

As part of the plan, Railtel will augment and modernise the existing infrastructure to provide communication facilities for commercial purposes to the railways while Tata Indicom will be the service provider.

Meanwhile, the competition on the platform is building up as the railway station already has a private 24-hour cyber cafe‚ handled by Comesum, the fast-food joint in the station premises.

For P N Ritesh, who works with a multinational pharma company in Mumbai, the cyber cafe‚ came as a surprise. Reaching the station to board the Indrayani Express after finishing his work early, he spent a happy hour e-mailing his friends. ‘‘I reached station much before the departure time and was thinking how to spend time,’’ he said. ‘‘I would have never imagined that I would find a cyber cafe‚ in the station premises with good downloading speed.’’

Elsewhwere in the country
THE Indian Railways will soon have similar cyber cafes in over 180 locations in the country. While the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) will service 68 locations, the rest will have Tata Indicom as their service provider. VSNL’s cyber cafe‚s have come up at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gorakhpur, Asansol and Jhansi over the past month, said VSNL Deputy General Manager (Corporate Communications) S Ravindran.

[p.raghavendra6]

[grimmm]

Source: Economic times

GENERAL Motors India’s new plant in Pune will be part of the auto major’s production hub for GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GM-DAT) which already supplies a pool of products for the Indian market. According Nick Reilly, president, GM Asia Pacific, “India will be part of GM-DAT’s global manufacturing resource and the products could go anywhere.” That’s also why the new plant has a ramp up possibility of just short of 300,000 units.

Although the greenfield plant’s immediate focus will be on the domestic market with the mini car (namely Chevy Spark), it would also feed GMDAT’s larger production pool later. “We already have several places like East Europe and China and India will be part of that manufacturing resource,” Mr Reilly said.
The fit is fairly close given that GM DAT has already supplied two volume products for the Indian market-the Chevy Optra and Aveo-and is also the pool from where the Chevy Spark will be sourced.
“GM DAT has products suitable for India and it has technology knowhow that is a good fit for this market. So GM DAT will help GM India in bringing new products to this market like the Aveo and Optra,” Mr Reilly said.
“We will look at opportunities for new products and GM DAT products will be top likelihoods for this market. But we haven’t decided on which products will make it to India yet.”
Although tight-lipped about future products beyond the Spark, Mr Reilly did not rule out two debutantes that have just rolled out in Europe-the Chevy Captiva and Epica.
“Regarding the Epica and Captiva, we will see how the market develops and what products we need for the Chevrolet brand in India,” he said. “At the moment we are announcing our plans to get into the mini car segment.”

[grimmm]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1896288.cms

Utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra is expanding its base in Maharashtra through a new vehicle plant and an auto ancillary unit.

The company is expected to invest close to Rs 600 crore to set up these facilities near its existing manufacturing unit in Nashik. M&M is the fourth auto major to announce fresh capacity additions in Maharashtra in less than a month, after Tata-Fiat and General Motors.

Although senior M&M officials declined to comment on the development, sources said that a formal announcement is expected on Wednesday.

The company will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government. M&M's move is seen as a reaffirmation of the state government's intention to retain its position as one of the three auto clusters in the country.

States like Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have been witnessing a slew of investments from automobile companies. Another global giant Volkswagen is also said to be heading to Maharashtra, after discussions with Punjab.

M&M has two plants in Maharashtra for making tractors, sports utility vehicles and an engine unit. It also has a three-wheeler manufacturing facility at Haridwar in Uttaranchal and a commercial vehicles division at Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh.

The company has been on the lookout for another manufacturing facility to house its upcoming multi-utility vehicle, Ingenio - likely to hit the roads in 2008. It has been in talks with the Tamil Nadu government and Karnataka for a manufacturing unit.

M&M is also keen to build its auto component division Mahindra Systems and Technologies as an independent component supplier. The auto ancillary unit will not only cater to the company's growing requirement, but also tap the booming export market.

The company has drawn plans to export auto components worth a $1 billion through its joint venture with US-based International Truck & Engine Corporation.

[Zailsingh]

Looks like pune is the most happening city In india. Way to go.
Link:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/060802/48/66d9l.html

Article:
British Business Group set up to increase bilateral trade, woo investments
IT may sound cliche, but even the British have started accepting Pune's potential as a business rival to the Silicon Capital of India - Bangalore. ''Puneites have a lot to be proud of... Pune can be a real rival for Bangalore,'' British deputy high commissioner Vicki Treadell said.

The reason: Unlike Bangalore, Pune has IT, manufacturing and other sectors. ''This city has the potential to be not just the second city of Maharashtra, but a significant city of India,'' Treadell, who inaugurated the British Business Group in Pune on Tuesday night, said.

The intentions are also clear - from formally opening a trade office in the city in the next three months to visit by British delegations in automotive industry in September and January and an all-women's delegation in October - the British Business Group (BBG) will try and attract investment from the UK companies to Pune.

''This will be followed by a delegation focusing on the scope and chances of investment in the construction sector,'' BBG chairperson Vandana Saxena Poria said.

''This forum will work towards removing the obstacles and impediments that come on the way of movement of capital, goods and personnel. We will take up the issues at appropriate political levels and see that changes can be made for facilitating smooth transaction of businesses among the two countries,'' Treadell said.

Interestingly, Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from India are more to the UK. According to Treadell, about 60 per cent of the Indian investments in Europe is in the UK. Treadell further said the British companies are keenly looking at the Indian automotive sector, pharma industry and business process outsourcing (BPO).

However, Pune's infrastructure and bureaucratic red-tape came in for some criticism. ''While it takes a single day to renew visas in Mumbai the same takes two-three months in Pune,'' she said, but was quick to add: ''Pune has more open space and scope for developing its infrastructure.''

The forum will meet on the first Tuesdays of every month and will look at real penetration of business interest in Pune. There are 67 British companies in Pune and 115 with the UK links.

[grimmm]

http://www.business-standard.com/com...Left=0&chkFlg=

Austria-based intelligent transportation systems (ITS) provider Efkon AG is going to set up centre for excellence in Pune for its global highway traffic management system by 2007.

Pushkar Kulkarni, CEO, Efkon Group India, told Business Standard that the centre would be involved in systems development, quality assurance, life cycle management (support system), testing of products for highway traffic management system and 24x7 service centre.

“The centre would entail an investment of Rs 15-25 crore. Spread over 10,000 square feet, it would employ 100 people for research and development by 2007,” said Kulkarni. Efkon AG has presence in India via a group of companies held cohesively under Efkon Group India.

Among them, ITS Clearing House and ITS Solutions Ltd are fully owned subsidiary whereas I-Pay Clearing Services is a joint venture with Efkon AG holding 74 per cent stake. Efkon Group India is also planning to merge ITS Clearing House and ITS Solutions (P) Ltd into a single entity, Efkon India, shortly.

With most highway projects coming towards completion, Efkon is gearing up to achieve Rs 100 crore within next few years, Kulkarni said.

“We recorded a turnover of Rs 30 crore in 2005. This year, we are expecting to grow at 40 per cent, and compound annual growth rate of 60 per cent over the next few years from 2007 onwards, as several highway projects is approaching completion,” he said.

[grimmm]

http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=197139

24 roads get face-lift, long-term repairs after rain stops
Express News Service

Pune, August 16:: BRICKBATS from all sections, cutting across party lines, seemed to have worked, with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) undertaking repair work on the city’s worsening potholed roads. Due to the rain, the repairs were temporary in nature with murum and pieces of bricks. The PMC, however, failed to notice potholes in its own backyard — the stretch from Congress Bhavan to Dengale bridge.

The civic administration claimed to have repaired 24 roads on Wednesday. The civic officials said the roads repaired on Wednesday included Solapur Road, Nagar Road, Shivarkar Road, Kondhwa main road, Salunkhe Vihar Road, ITI Road, Aundh-Baner Road, Warje octroi post road, Ambedkar Road, Residency Club to Vidhanbhavan, Maldhakka Chowk to railway bridge, 7 Loves Chowk to Vahkar Mahamandal, Law College Road, Jedhe Chowk to Volga Chowk and Panand Road.

However, one of the worst-hit — the road from Balgandharva Rangmandir Chowk to Dengale Bridge — still remains dotted with crater-sized potholes on the stretch between Congress House and PMC building.

Although the road is in the vicinity of the PMC building, no repairs were carried out there. The road, which is always congested, as a major PMT bus terminus is located on it, remained chocked as usual and motorists continued to face hardship due to the potholes.

Development Engineer (Road) Madhav Latkar said that the road department had repaired the stretch. ‘‘Hard soil and brick pieces were filled in the potholes. However, with heavy rains they were washed away. Also, the commuters themselves remove these filling often thus showing bigger potholes,’’ he claimed.

Latkar added that the road department, which is situated in the PMC building, was aware about the condition of the road. ‘‘Immediate repairs will be taken on the road,’’ he assured.

The civic administration has been coming under fire from all quarters over bad road conditions over the last few days. On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and a Congress delegation led by Mohan Joshi had staged demonstrations in various parts of the city and submitted a memorandum to the civic body to take urgent repair works.

The Nationalist Congress Party too jumped into the fray on Wednesday and met Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani to complain about the bad road conditions. ‘‘The demands of all the parties are same — to repair roads immediately. However, it has been raining continuously because of which there are problems in carrying out repairs,’’ Adtani said.

He added that currently the civic administration will repair all the works temporarily with murum and bricks. ‘‘We have a long-term repair programme but this can be implemented only after the rains stop,’’ he said.

Adtani assured that once it stopped raining, within seven days, a majority of the roads would be repaired.

[grimmm]

http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/17lupin.htm

Lupin proposes to set up a sector-specific special economic zone in Maharashtra to produce API and formulations with an initial investment of Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion).

The company is believed to have already put forward its proposal to the Maharashtra government seeking, allotment of land, sources told PTI in Mumbai.

Lupin has initially identified a 100 acre land in Nashik to set up the SEZ. However, if that does not fructify, the company would like to put up the facility on a 250 acre land in Lote Parshuram, near Pune.

Acknowledging the plan, sources at Lupin said the company would like to set up a manufacturing plant inside the SEZ and would not sell space to others.

"We propose to put up a manufacturing plant inside the SEZ, but, in no way, are we going to develop it for the use of others," a source said.

Lupin, a global leader in API and formulations, has plans to initially invest Rs 200 crore, which may go up to anywhere between Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) and Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion), sources said.

Setting up a manufacturing plant within the SEZ gives a company a lot of incentives.

[cncity]

while...another company to look out for..trying to go global...to become an MNC

Serum Institute picks 14 pc stake in UK drug firm

Express News Service

Pune, August 17: PUNE-BASED Serum Institute India Ltd, the largest manufacturer measles and DTP group of vaccines in the world, has picked up a 14 per cent stake in the UK-based Lipoxen PLC. Lipoxen has raised 2.6 million pounds from Serum Institute through a subscription agreement and associated warrant agreement.

Lipoxen — the biopharmaceutical company that specialises in development of differentiated biologicals, vaccines and oncology drugs — will use the funds to drive development of its pipeline of potential protein drugs and vaccines into clinical trials and appoint a leading biologic contract research organisation. It will allow Lipoxen to recruit additional laboratory staff.



For Serum Institute, the agreement will help the company to diversify into oncology and recombinant products different from the generic drugs available in the market.

‘‘We are excited about our strategic investment in Lipoxen and feel that their technology is a key component to our strategy to create high-value differentiated biologics and vaccines. Our investment and increased strategic collaboration was prompted by Serum’s desire to become a large contributor in the biopharmaceutical world and by the very positive preliminary scientific data,’’ chairman and managing director Cyrus Poonawalla said.

Lipoxen chief executive officer M Scott Maguire said their combination with Serum would be an ideal fit for their twin novel technologies in the field of vaccines and biologics. ‘‘The coupling of Serum’s vast manufacturing infrastructure in Pune with Lipoxen’s novel technologies make for a powerful partnership that positions our companies as key players in the world of vaccines and protein drugs,’’ he said.

Lipoxen will issue 1 crore ordinary shares to Serum Institute at a subscription rate of 26 pence per share. Pertaining to the warrant agreement, Serum Institute can subscribe to 2.7 million ordinary shares for a period of two years. It will also been given the right to appoint a non-executive director on the board of Lipoxen.

[p.raghavendra6]

Shoddy road-makers escape without bruises

By Snehal Sonawane/TNN

Pune: In spite of citizens crying hoarse over the pathetic road conditions, only one road contractor from among the nearly 2,000 registered with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been de-registered for poor quality work in the last one year.
While N.R. Construction has been deregistered by the PMC, nine others have been penalised and issued “show-cause” notices after the roads they constructed were badly damaged within the “defect liability period”, according to PMC road department chief Shrinivas Bonala.
However, Bonala said the nine penalised contractors are being allowed to continue work on other roads, as per PMC norms.
The norms, under the 20-year-old ‘Contractor’s registration regulation’, state a lengthy procedure for “severe punishment”, which includes monetary penalisation, issuing of show-cause notices followed by downgrading of the contractor, stoppage of issuance of tender and finally de-registration.
Consequently, only a negligible number of contractors are actually given severe punishment for their shoddy work.
Kishore More, deputy commissioner (vigilance department), told TOI that a contractor cannot be withdrawn from other road works, but it is possible to stop issuing future contracts if he fails to reply to the notices.
“There is no foolproof system by which the PMC can prove that he has carried out substandard quality work on other roads too. For example, the road that he has constructed may be dug up for various purposes, like laying cables or drainage pipelines. In such a case, it’s not the contractor’s fault,” he said.
“Moreover, if the contractor is withdrawn from other projects, it takes at least three months to appoint another contractor, during which time work will be stalled.”
Another fact revealed by More is that a contractor can be blacklisted only if he has been found guilty of malpractice, such as bribery, corruption, fraud and substitution of tender.
“Blacklisting of contractor is a punishment for only such kind of offences. The most severe punishment for inefficiency and substandard quality of work is de-registration,” More said.

•

20-year-old regulation states penalised contractors can work on other roads


• Lengthy procedure deters severe punishment

One among 2,000 road contractors de-registered


Pune: The city roads are in a pathetic condition. However, very few among the nearly 2,000 road contractors were given severe punishment for the poor quality of their work in the last one year as the following details show:

CONTRACTORS DE-REGISTERED BY PMC

1) N.R. Construction
(two other cases ‘under process’)

CONTRACTORS ISSUED SHOW-CAUSE NOTICE

1) M/s Patil Construction:
Yerwada bridge to Sadhu Vaswani overbridge
2) W.S. and Ganesh Construction : North main road, Koregaon Park
3) Sandeep Associates:
Pune-Solapur road 4) Sunshine Pavings : Dhobarwadi to Empress garden road
5) Ashwin Constructions:
Bhandarkar road 6) A.R. Constructions: Alankar police chowky to Warje ward office
7) Thakar Constructions :
Kanhere road
8) Nandkumar Constructions:
Rajaram bridge
9) Pravin Patil Constructions:
Irawati Karve road

[p.raghavendra6]

PMC tries all tricks on potholes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pune: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday launched an official drive to fill up the potholes on the city roads. It even dared to announce the names of the 22 roads on which the job was accomplished. An official statement, however, shows that each PMC team has experimented with various types of material including ‘murum,’ crushed stones and bricks to fill the potholes.
The potholes on the Nagar road, J.M. road and Satara road were filled using ‘emulsion and crushed stones’, the statement says.
On the Law college road, Baner road, Sus road, ITI road, Aundh-Baner road, Good Luck chowk on Fergusson college road, Warje octroi post chowk, Mundhwa-Dhaikar Vasti road and Shivarkar road the potholes were filled with murum.
Potholes on the Kondhwa main road and Salunke Vihar road were filled with ‘murum’ and crushed bricks, while the Ambedkar road, Residency club-council hall road, Barne road junction, and Maldhakka chowk to railway bridge were repaired with a mixture of various materials.
Meanwhile, the NCP’s newly-elected city unit chief Jaidev Gaikwad issued a letter to municipal commissioner Nitin Kareer demanding him to take a serious cognisance of the poor state of the roads. “If you fail to repair these roads within a week then the NCP will lodge an official complaint against you with the state government,” Gaikwad has warned.
Congress corporator Shiva Mantri too has issued a letter to Kareer bringing to his notice the administration’s failure in fulfilling the promise to repair the footpaths on Karve road.
It was tragic that despite repeated complaints no action was being taken to repair the footpaths and the open ducts which pose a serious threat to the people, Mantri wrote.

[cncity]

From GM to DaimlerChrysler, Tata Motors to Bajaj Auto... Pimpri-Chinchwad small and medium enterprises shed local image to grab global customers

Rajesh Menon

Pune, August 19: It is past 8 pm on Friday evening, but at Chinchwad industrial area, the machines have not stopped working. This cluster of buildings and tin sheds in the twin industrial township of Pimpri-Chinchwad are neither the poster boys nor the brand ambassadors of Indian manufacturing sector, but they are the backroom for the Tatas, Firodias, Bajajs and Kalyanis.

The recession is far behind them and today, these 4,000-odd small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are scripting the country’s success story with 50 per cent of their products going to world’s auto giants.

The business has never been so good for these companies and world’s largest car-maker General Motors’ decision to set up Rs 1,300-crore facility at Talegaon has just given them another global customer.

‘‘We are very happy... now I have two customers and it will widen my customer base,’’ says director of the Rs 15-crore Praditi Pressparts Pvt Ltd Deepak Karandikar. He currently supplies chassis to Tata Motors and Piaggio and has recently added Godrej as his latest customer.

From plastic and rubber products to seat metal, side boards, wheel caps, axles and chassis, these SMEs have been providing auto parts for the world giants.

‘‘We are ready to supply to any company and are already providing international products at world standards to large companies,’’ says Pimpri Chinchwad Small Industries Association president Pravin Mistry.

His optimism stems from the fact that they are growing at 30 per cent year-on-year on an annual turnover running into a few thousand crore rupees. And the new buzzword in this 200-hectare Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) estate is automation.

‘‘Over 25 per cent of the companies have quality certification and automation and in another two years, the entire industry will be automated,’’ says Mistry.

‘‘If we used lathe machines earlier, now we have CNC machines (computer-controlled machines) and instead of manual welding, it is all electrical now. It saves raw material and also reduces labour cost. Today, a press operator commands a salary of at least Rs 6,000 a month,’’ adds Sopanrao Bhor, secretary, Forum of Small-Scale Industries, Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The reason: With increasing competition, price pressure and demand to supply world-class products, the SMEs have taken to automation in a big way.

‘‘We have a lean advantage and with automation, the percentage of overhead drops. We operate on margins as low as 3-6 per cent; better technology help us achieve higher levels of business excellence,’’ adds Karandikar.

Something Bharat Forge CMD Baba Kalyani has been reiterating. ‘‘The global outsourcing for the automotive industry is $ 375 billion a year and if we can upgrade our products, it can attract contracts to the tune of $ 35-40 billion. But we need a quantum improvement in technology,’’ Kalyani has said.

With a first-of-its-kind forging centre and auto cluster already set up in this twin industrial township, the Indian auto component industry may find it easy to achieve its target of $ 40 billion by 2014, $ 25-billion by way of exports.

But there is one small hitch that they are still trying to overcome: Manpower shortage. ‘‘We need nearly 8,000-10,000 skilled and unskilled workers,’’ adds Mistry. And that is something automation cannot solve.

[grimmm]

http://www.business-standard.com/gen...&autono=102053

What started as a response to the tourists' disdain for the monotony of claustrophobic rooms in the so-called luxury hotels for which they have to fork out heavy attendant bills, is now the favourite flavour for Pune's real estate businesses.

The service apartment concept that made an appearance five years ago is now poised to become a 3,000-unit segment of the city's hospitality scene.

The city's rise as an IT destination as well as a major hub for management and engineering studies has seen a rise in its "floating population".

Those parents visiting the city for the purpose of admissions need rooms for a longer term - say a week or ten days - during which, they seek a decent accommodation, which doesn't cost a bomb.

If the accommodation has a kitchen, the logic behind service apartments gets stronger.

Says Hemant Naiknavare, director at Naiknavare Associates, who pioneered the concept in the city in 2001, "We have seen people staying in the apartments for four to eight days on an average. Those who come to the city to take up senior level jobs stay longer, but that is till they find a place of their choice."

Another typical category of service apartment users is families who visit the city for marriage purposes. They would need a couple of rooms in a hotel but prefer an apartment as they get a two bed room place for half the price of a star hotel.

The all round shortage of accommodation in Pune has triggered a huge interest among the real estate developers in the service apartments business.

Says Vithal Kamat whose Orchid Hotels manages Naiknavare's Seasons Apartments in Koregaon Park and Aundh, "A hotel would take close to three years to build, whereas service apartments can be built in less than two years. Also, compared to hotels, there is less regulatory pressure for these apartments."

It is estimated that Pune needs over 3,000 rooms for long-stay or service apartments on an immediate basis.

The city's big builders too would like to contribute to the city's accommodation needs. So, players such as Vascon Builders, Kumar Builders, City Developers, Panchshil Infrastructure, Sanas Builders, Naiknavare Builders, who started it all, as well as the Goel

Ganga Group are getting into it.

"There are only a few hundred apartments available in the city currently as against a requirement of 3,000 apartments on an immediate basis. By 2008-09 Pune would have created capacities of 2,000 rooms," said Lalit Kumar Jain, chairman and managing director (CMD), Kumar Builders.

[cncity]

CULTURE FEST: PLAYS, KAVI SAMMELANS, MUSICAL PROGRAMMES AND SPORTS, PROMISE TO ENTHRAL PUNEITES

Express News Service

Pune, August 21: A CULTURAL extravaganza that promises to leverage Pune’s artistic ethos — the 18th Pune Festival 2006 — will be held between September 1 and 5 and present a bouquet of the city’s sights and sounds.

The opening ceremony of the festival, to be presided over by Minister for Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch will also be attended by Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Members of Parliament and actors Shatrughan Sinha and Hema Malini and actor and social activist Shabana Azmi.



The inaugural ceremony will see a melange of performances, starting with actor Meenakshi Seshadri, who will perform the Ganesh Vandana. Other performances will include a vani by actor Varsha Usgaonkar and a show by Shiamak Davar and his troupe.

However, the highlight will be a performance by the Chinese National Acrobatic Team to commemorate the Sino-India Friendship Year. ‘‘By bringing these international artistes to Pune, we are trying to leverage Pune Festival and our city on the international map. This will also help us in terms of the Commonwealth Youth Games that will be held in Pune in 2008,’’ said Krishnakant Kudale, chief coordinator of the festival.

The Pune Festival Awards, given each year for accomplishments in various fields, will be presented to scriptwriter, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, social worker Baba Adhav, veteran actor Sulochana and ace-shooter Samaresh Jung.The installation of the Ganesh idol or Ganesh Sthapana will be held at Hotel Saras, Nehru Stadium, on August 27 at 10.30 am.

Besides this, the five-day fest will see performances by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, a mushaira evening, a Kerala Mahotsav and competition between various Ganpati mandals for the best pandal decoration. This year also marks the return of vocalist Jagjit Singh, who will perform at the festival after several years.

Other programmes at the Festival include a Marathi Hasya Kavi Sammelan, Marathi and Gujarati plays and Naushad Ka Sangeet Safar, a musical programme in memory of the late composer Naushad, which will be organised by the Mohammad Rafi Arts Foundation.

The festival will organise the first-ever Pune Festival Golf Cup, to be held at the Poona Golf Club. The event will be managed by golfer Tiger Woods’ company, Tiger Sports Management.

Other events include the vintage car and motorcycle rally, a national dirt track race, a bullock-cart race and the Maharashtra State Inter District Athletics Championships.

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http://cities.expressindia.com/fulls...?newsid=197925

Pune, August 22: THE agony of travelling over the city’s potholes seems to have reached the top rungs of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). At Tuesday’s General Body meeting, corporators hauled the civic administration over the coals over the state of roads in the city, sought Chief Minister Deshmukh’s intervention and even asked for a change in hands in the civic administration.

However, Mayor Rajni Tribhuvan who joined the chorus of people seeking better roads, stole the thunder by threatening to resign if the roads were not fixed in the next four days, before Ganeshotsav that starts on Sunday.

'‘Fixing the city’s roads is the responsibility of the civic administration and if it is not delivering then I do not have any right to head the civic body,’’ she said. Tribhuvan also announced at the General Body meeting that she would stop using her official vehicle from Monday unless the roads were done up.

Tribhuvan was supported by leader of the House Ramesh Bagve, City Congress Unit chief Abhay Chhajed and leader of the Opposition Anil Shirole. BJP corporators Vikas Mathkari and Ujjwal Keskar said the step was unnecessary since it was the civic administration’s failure.

Congress corporator Vandana Chavan wanted a delegation of corporators to request Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to intervene. ‘‘If the administration cannot fix the roads, we need to change it,’’ she said.

Other corporators asked for police cases to be filed against the officials and threatened to stop paying taxes. They were particularly upset that municipal commissioner Nitin Kareer had not called for a single meeting with the corporators over the bad roads.

Kareer, who is in Germany on an official tour, drew the Shiv Sena corporators’ ire. They arrived draped in black clothes and shouted slogans — Punekar khaddyat aani adhikari pardeshat (Puneites are in the doldrums while officials are abroad).

Former deputy mayor Mahadeo Babar drew the attention of the members to the uncratered roads in the Cantonment areas. He said although the same technique was used to repair roads in the PMC and the Pune Cantonment Board areas, the roads in the cantonment were much better.

[grimmm]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1775643,0002.htm

Pune-based auto components manufacturer, Bharat Forge is setting up a special economic zone (SEZ) near Pune, on land spread across 5,000 acres at an estimated investment of around Rs 20,000-25,000 crore.

The SEZ is expected to have an employment-generating capacity of 60-to-70-thousand.

This SEZ would mainly cater to auto industry-based units.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) was formed between Bharat Forge and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), in which the latter will be a minority stake-holder, a top level government official told PTI.

Bharat Forge and the government of Maharashtra will sign an MoU for this project on Wednesday.

[p.raghavendra6]

Smooth Paud-Mulshi road speaks against PMC

Pune: A drive to Mulshi dam via the Paud village road is enough evidence to expose the civic babus and political leaders who blame the rain for the sorry state of affairs of Pune’s roads.
The 33-km road linking Chandni chowk to Hindustan Construction Company’s (HCC) Lavasa township near Mulshi does not have a single pothole, the surface is smooth and the vehicle does not bounce even while crossing the Paud ghat section. And it is not a six-lane concrete road like the Pune-Mumbai expressway, nor is it part of any golden quadrilateral on which huge funds were spent. It is a simple tar road, which is only 12 metres in width.
The road has withstood heavier rainfall than what Pune city received. It passes through the ghat sections of Paud and the catchment areas around the largest dam (Mulshi) in Pune. Besides, there is a continuous movement of heavy vehicles between Chandani chowk and Pirangut industrial estate.
The road was constructed by HCC, Mumbai, in a span of 12 months after the state Public Works Department (PWD) awarded it the contract in June 2005.
HCC’s senior vice-president, S.K. Dharmadhikari, told TOI that the project cost only Rs 34 crore, at a per km rate of Rs 1.05 crore.
As against this, the PMC recently wasted Rs 22 crore on just re-surfacing 36 roads in the city, measuring 50 km. Although the per km cost is Rs 44 lakh, all these funds have gone down the drain.
Elaborating on how the HCC went about its job, Dharmadhikari said the company’s engineers first carried out a traffic survey. Later, the service lines were identified and shifted to ensure that the road is not dug up for repairs to them. The water-logging spots were ascertained and slopes and storm water drains were provided with chambers.
“We have designed the road as per the Indian Road Congress (IRC) norms. We have used standard material like earth, bitumen, steel and sand which is easily available in India,” Dharmadhikari said.
Speaking to TOI, L&T company’s former general manager (roads) Arvind Datar said, “Has it not rained in Mulshi or Dehu? Why the roads there do not have potholes there?”
Datar said it was unfortunate that the PMC, which had set an example for the industry by constructing a very good tar road — the Jangli Maharaj road — two decades ago, had forgotten the basics of constructing good tar roads.


Courtesy : TOI